Template:Cite/doc
More actions
{{Cite}} is intended to provide an easy way to format citations. Citations should still be wrapped with the <ref> and </ref> tags.
Usage
{{cite
|source-name =
|year =
|month =
|day =
|title =
|retrieved-date =
|source =
|archive-url =
|archive-date =
}}
The archive-url and archive-date parameters are optional but recommended — archiving the source guards against link rot if the original is later removed, privated, or restructured. See the Archived sources example below.
Example
{{cite
|source-name = Destiny
|year = 2006
|month = October
|day = 31
|title = This is an example of a title
|retrieved-date = November 27, 2024
|source = https://destiny.gg/
}}
produces Destiny (October 31, 2006). "This is an example of a title". Retrieved November 27, 2024.
The template also supports incomplete citations, though ideally any user adding a citation should add the full citation.
{{cite
|source-name = Destiny
|year = 2006
|month = October
|day =
|title = This is an example of a title
|retrieved-date = November 27, 2024
|source = https://destiny.gg/
}}
produces Destiny (October2006). "This is an example of a title". Retrieved November 27, 2024.
Archived sources
When a source has been deleted, privated, or is otherwise no longer reliably accessible, provide an archived snapshot (e.g. from the Wayback Machine or archive.today) using the archive-url and archive-date parameters. Set url-status to dead so the citation displays the archived copy as the primary link.
{{cite
|source-name = YouTube
|year = 2012
|month = December
|day = 26
|title = A conversation with Vaush (Irishladdie): feminism and the revolution
|retrieved-date = 2026, May 26
|source = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-JC1voCu54
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250121000946/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-JC1voCu54
|archive-date = 2025, January 21
|url-status = dead
}}
produces YouTube (December 26, 2012). "A conversation with Vaush (Irishladdie): feminism and the revolution". Archived from the original on 2025, January 21. Retrieved 2026, May 26.
Parameters
No description.
| Parameter | Description | Type | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| source-name | source-name | The name of the source's origination. | Content | suggested |
| year | year | The year the material you are citing was posted. | Number | suggested |
| month | month | The month the material you are citing was posted. Use the full name of the month (i.e. "January", "October", etc.) rather than the abbreviation (i.e. JAN, Sept. etc.) or number of the month (i.e. "1", "06", etc.) | Content | suggested |
| day | day | The day the material you are citing was posted. | Number | suggested |
| title | title | The title of the work/post/video/etc. you are citing. The template will automatically italicize the whole title, so do not attempt to italicize it on your own, and do not put the title in quotes (unless the title has quotes within it). | Unknown | optional |
| retrieved-date | retrieved-date | The date you retrieved the material, use the YEAR, MONTH DAY format, for example: "2024, October 22" | Content | suggested |
| source | source | The URL source the material is from. You can optionally mask the link with a shorter name. | URL | suggested |
| archive-url | archive-url | The URL of an archived snapshot of the source (e.g. a Wayback Machine or archive.today capture). Use this when the original source is dead, privated, or at risk of being removed. | URL | optional |
| archive-date | archive-date | The date the archived snapshot was taken. Use the YEAR, MONTH DAY format, for example: "2025, January 21" | Content | optional |
| url-status | url-status | The status of the original source link. Set to "dead" if the original is no longer accessible (privated, deleted, 404), or "live" if it still works. Defaults to "live". When "dead", the citation should display the archived version as the primary link. | String | optional |